What do you do with a problem like Brown?

[Dandyman]

Reading through my paper today, it seemed to be that a government with even moderate political sense would consider ditching the privatisation of Royal Mail, launch a major programme of council house building, scrap the ludicrously expensive and un-needed ID card and Trident renewal programmes, take proper control of the banks and follow the lead of the Germans, French and US to try to protect manufacturing employment. Brown does not seem likely to do any of these things.

The question for the good people of NSC, then, is what would you do if you were PM in the present crisis?

 

[pasty]

The question for the good people of NSC, then, is what would you do if you were PM in the present crisis?

Resign.

 

[Titanic]

I'd shout loudly, thumping my fists for emphasis, about the 'Do nothing Tories', while busily doing nothing.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Reading through my paper today, it seemed to be that a government with even moderate political sense would consider ditching the privatisation of Royal Mail

yes

launch a major programme of council house building

yes

scrap the ludicrously expensive and un-needed ID card and Trident renewal programmes,

no

take proper control of the banks and follow the lead of the Germans, French and US to try to protect manufacturing employment.

yes


Well thats what I would do

And this

I'd shout loudly, thumping my fists for emphasis, about the 'Do nothing Tories', while busily doing nothing.

And maybe add that "sleaze" is the Tories fault as they did it first.

 

[Pavilionaire]

Tell the Labour think-tanks to come up with some policies that:

a) Differentiate Labour form the othe parties, and
b) Inspire the electorate.

There are SO many areas of life in the UK that he could change through policy, i.e. like simplifying tax and tax credits, reforming benefits to reduce the possibility of fraud, reforming and reducing the planning procedures that stifle construction, introducing proper sentencing and more prisons, the legalisation and control of some drugs.

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Go back to traditional Labour policies.

 

[coventrygull]

Dandyman you forgot that the NHS is about to go tits up.

 

[Lokki 7]

bringing down interest rates was ingenius and may have been the decision that saved Britains economy.

Possibly. But it wasn't Gordon Brown that made it.

 

[coventrygull]

Go back to traditional Labour policies.

Lets Nationalise everything

 

[TWOCHOICEStom]

bringing down interest rates was ingenius and may have been the decision that saved Britains economy.

Now I don't claim to know much about economics... but from where i'm standing i find it hard to see quite how our economy has been saved..

 

[seagullsovergrimsby]

Lets Nationalise everything

At least the trains would run on time

 

[Bevendean Hillbilly]

Labour know they're fuckedand no-one in their right mind would go for Leadership role at the moment.

I think Brown is the best man for the job at the present time and there is no doubt that he commands a hell of a lot of respect around the World for his bold decisions when it all went tits up..fact is though he is bereft of any charisma whatsoever and has a fatal character flaw in that he is devious and scheming as has been evidenced by all the recent shenanigins with Damien Green et al so cannot hope to win the next election.

If I was Cameron I would be worried about all the little timebombs Gordon will be leaving for the Tories when they romp it next time round.

 

[coventrygull]

At least the trains would run on time

and would be cheaper

 

[sten_super]

The blokes being unfairly scrutanised by everyone

Unfairly scrutinised? He's the ruddy Prime Minister! If we can't scrutinise the person we've electe... oh no, I mean given a mandat... oh no. If we can't scrutinise the man who's claimed power for himself then who can we scrutinise?

I'd also point out that it was the MPC that made the decision to reduce interest rates, not Gordon.

I'm with Pavilionaire. There is so much that he (or for that matter Alan Johnston, or even Cameron for the Tories) could do to re-engage the general populace, and give them the feeling that the government is there for them, not as a self-serving entity. But none of them will do anything.

 

[Dandyman]

Dandyman you forgot that the NHS is about to go tits up.

Major funding gap, I understand.

Would be a bit difficult to run it if all your Asian and West Indian colleagues were booted out would n't you say?

 

[coventrygull]

Major funding gap, I understand.

Would be a bit difficult to run it if all your Asian and West Indian colleagues were booted out would n't you say?

My colleagues are not all asian or west indians. Mostly white with some Filipinos. We have some africans that causes problems with the asian patients.

 

[The Antikythera Mechanism]

Here are a few things that Gordon Brown either presided over, or influenced as part of the government machine;

1. Introduced more stealth taxes than any other chancellor in history, equivalent to an extra 10p in the Pound on the basic rate of tax (source: Grant Thornton).
2. Sold the UK’s gold reserves at the bottom of the market ignoring expert advice not to.
3. Introduced ‘green taxes’ in the full and certain knowledge that any revenues gained were not destined to be invested in green initiatives. Yet another successful stealth tax to add to the collection. If you are starting to feel a little duped, then read on, I haven’t finished with Mr Brown yet!
4. Successfully achieved the goal of becoming prime minister without going through the inconvenience of being elected by the people. This in spite of the fact that New Labour gained their substantial commons majority with 57% of the voters supporting another party. So much for the benefits of our First Past The Post electoral system.
5. Was party to the sell out of the UK’s sovereignty to an unaccountable foreign ‘parliament’, in spite of a manifesto promise to allow the public to decide through a referendum.
6. Destroyed the union and in the process, ensured that his countrymen received more money per head than those in England and Wales.
7. Missed virtually every financial growth target announced in each successive budget without so much as a murmur from the press.
8. Successfully managed to dupe the press into believing that he was an iron chancellor driven by prudence, when in fact he was a spendthrift.
9. As the architect and driver of the revised PFI initiative originally proposed by the conservatives, saddled the country with a bill of £170bn which must be paid by 2032. Without having to include the figure as part of the public sector balance sheet.
10. Managed to keep the £780bn public pensions deficit off the books, even though this is equivalent to over £30,000 per household and must be paid out of future tax receipts. Estimates of this deficit have now been increased to over £1trillion.
11. Managed, without any consideration of the irony, to lecture people on their level of borrowings, whilst building up nearly £500bn of debt on the governments own ‘credit card’. If other recent liabilities are taken into account, this figure would rise substantially over £1trillion.
12. Introduced and supported a complicated tax credit programme that has managed to lose £2bn every year through fraud and errors.
13. Left the taxpayer saddled with £1.7bn of Metronet’s debt having been the person that pushed through the Private Public Partnership initiative for the London Underground.
14. Managed to convince the public that local authorities were responsible for the doubling of council tax. Meanwhile he was actually placing responsibility for all additional services firmly with the local councils.
15. Managed a real blinder, by camouflaging the inflation rate by changing the measurement from RPI to CPI.
16. Underwritten £17bn of debt for Network Rail, without having to include it on the public balance sheet.
17. Survived the embarrassment of claiming in March 2006 that 31,000 government employees had been trimmed off the payroll, whilst the Office for National Statistics claimed one month later, that the headcount had actually increased by 62,000 a difference of 93,000!
18. Managed to introduce such a complex set of rules and regulations, designed to extract maximum tax take that the annual Finance Act (summary of tax changes in the budget) has increased from 300 pages or so in the 1980’s to over 10,000.
19. At a time when businesses are struggling and people are having to tighten their belts, presided over a government that boasts some 78 acres of empty space in office buildings and grace and favour homes.
20. Managed to push another 3.5m people into the higher income tax bracket, using a favoured trick of ‘fiscal drag’, where the tax threshold is raised more slowly than earnings are rising, so that workers end up paying a higher proportion of their income in tax.
21. Twice shifted the timing of the ‘economic cycle’ in order that the so called “golden rule” would not be missed, resulting in a brazen massaging of the figures.
22. Ensured that there are now twice as many tax collectors as there are nurses, demonstrating firmly where the government’s priorities lie.
23. Masterfully convinced people that they are “better off under Labour” even though each family now pays more than £5,000 in extra tax, compared to 1997.

Full article here


I certainly think resignation is the least he can do, as he doesn't have the guts to call a general election.

 

[keaton]

Well the Indy says the recessions over today, so we can all be thankful he acted decisively and saved us

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Scrap ID and Trident for a start. Stop making out that there do not have to be significant cuts in public spending over the next year. And start making those cuts. Including public sector pay. Not those loser down the scale - start looking at those paid out of the public purse earning over £100K.

We know hard times are a-coming.

And forget about any electoral reform before the election - you look shifty.

Oh - and spend money and address any illegal immigrant issues.

 

[Dick Knights Mumm]

Here are a few things that Gordon Brown either presided over, or influenced as part of the government machine;

1. Introduced more stealth taxes than any other chancellor in history, equivalent to an extra 10p in the Pound on the basic rate of tax (source: Grant Thornton).

.........................

23. Masterfully convinced people that they are “better off under Labour” even though each family now pays more than £5,000 in extra tax, compared to 1997.

If all that was unarguable then he really is a master of the universe .......................